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From Sky Italia posted this morning: Speaking to Sky Italia at the Gran Gala del Calcio ceremony, Palestra delivered a positive update on his recovery. “I'm fine, it's still a few days away, but I feel much better,” he said. From the ceremony.

I guess Palestra is out for a while?

I guess if there were any average defensive midfield free agents we could sign as a temporary measure we wouldn’t be able to register them?

I personally think Strasbourg have a lot to thank BlueCo for. They could have sent them Garnacho and Badiashile.

Gonna be like a new signing…oh wait! Seriously though really looking forward to watching him this season.

We weren't totally sold on this bloke or we would have closed the deal several days earlier. If he goes to the bin dippers at least we will have increased their cost. Monaco and their CEO are not important to us in the grand scheme of things, and I think we have missed out on a player who would not have held down at starting place in our midfield. Hardly a disaster, what was his name again?

The vast majority of these rules are badly thought through and implemented, they didnt think about the ways clubs would use this, and how they would need to look to "game" them. Look at the start of it all, how the claim was it would lead to more youth players getting into the 1st team, whereas they are now basically the most saleable assets clubs have and will continue to be sold much more than ever before.

Scuro said in his statement that Camara wanted to stay (which was a lie) and was quoted as saying, "I'm very confident that soon he will have even better options and offers than the one he had yesterday." Either he was talking out of his ass, or there is truth to Ben Jacobs' report.

Absolute nonsense. Lahm, Alaba, and Kimmich are generational outliers, not templates. Bayern didn’t “convert defenders into midfielders every three years” because the roles are interchangeable; they did it because those players had elite midfield traits long before the positional switch. Lahm was basically a midfielder in disguise and is the smartest player he's ever coached, per Guardiola. Alaba played everywhere growing up. Kimmich was a 6 before he was a full‑back. A CB in a high line still plays with the entire game in front of him. That’s not midfield, and it’s nowhere close to operating as a midfielder. Pretending those roles overlap is just ignoring the fundamentals. Midfield success depends on things you can’t shortcut. Anticipation, tempo control, technical ability, constant scanning, and the intelligence to solve pressure in tight spaces. These aren’t traits any defender can “pick up”. They’re core midfield behaviours that defenders simply don’t develop by default, and your example of 3 generational players proves as much. Acting like a CB can step into midfield and replicate that because of modern positioning is, frankly, farcical. You’re treating one of the most cognitively demanding roles on the pitch as if it’s a plug and play skill set. It isn’t, and no amount of tactical buzzwords makes it so. If you were even remotely right, Van Dijk would already be a world-class #6, Pep would have kept Stones at DM permanently, and the TAA in midfield experiment wouldn't have been abandoned the very moment it started.

Would hasten to add hard to split my score on the dislikeometer between Spurs and Liverpool hate both with a passion although hard pressed I think Liverpool still give that extra buzz of satisfaction personally when we beat them. The 4-2 FA Cup win still ranks amongst my favourite experiences at the Bridge.

When I first started supporting Chelsea as a kid was probably QPR based purely on where I lived and Chelsea and QPR being the two nearest clubs and a large demographic of those areas supporting local teams, QPR had a decent team at that time from what my ageing memory allows (Rodney Marsh era) lol. From a club to club perspective I think was no doubt Leeds at that time. Evolved over the years to be Liverpool but would defo say Spurs probably the longest running rivalry that I've seen during my years.

For me it's mostly Spurs and Liverpool, followed by Leeds and West Ham. I suppose the current Arsenal team would be up there now, but historically I've not given much of a sh*t about them. Couldn't care less about the manc clubs.

Same here, mostly because of their insufferable fans

I hate losing to Liverpool. They are definitely the worst team I hate losing to. 😭😭

Fair enough, a stable environment is always a good thing. I think as long as he plays though, its all valuable experience. And the way he's started, there is no way a new manager comes in and stops playing him so I think he'll be fine

I actually think it is a loophole, and it's within the rules. I think we will use this until the rules are changed, however we are probably exploring the next potential loophole in the meantime. Many of the deals we do are non standard. We have a good understanding with Brighton Villa and now Palace it's only gonna increase Spuds next maybe - the only ones that won't play are the big boys, for fear of becoming our bitches. We are trying to stay ahead of the posse.

If I had to put other clubs into order in which I'd be most upset if we lost to them, it would probably be: Spurs Arsenal Brighton QPR Leeds Liverpool Man City Man Utd Fulham

I always find it a sad watch.

I know he's been compared to Aguero but that clip against Middlesbrough reminds me so much of young Rooney or Tevez. The kind of forward you just deploy up front and they cover all three positions. Blows past defenders with either strength, speed or just streetwise skill. Equally likely to nutmeg you or chop you down. Will look 35 at age 24 and will be in their mid-50s at 30.

Just now on the pitch has to be Arsenal. It is also annoying in recent years we have not been able to capitalise on Utd's woes at OT. We wait to see if we can match, City and Liverpool on the pitch. Not sure about off the pitch, coming into Charing Cross or Victoria stations, Millwall were a concern back in the late 80s and early 90's, also aware back then we had off the pitch issues with Spurs and WHU.

My issue isn't with the fact that it's a Championship club. It's a level that will do him the world of good. It's Burnley, a poorly run club and likely candidates for relegation. There were other, better run clubs capable of providing him with a healthier environment.

I know. The question was rhetorical.

His dribbling/ball carrying is weird, he seems to drag the ball under his feet.

I actually think he has bulked up in his time here which has inevitably taken a bit off of his pace. He has also lost a bit of that guile needed by wide players. Even if he played in the 10 at the moment I would be worried that he would be caught in possession and dispossessed too easily. Needs a run of games, needs an injection of confidence, and we still have a massive talent here. Currently I am seeing parallels with early CHO, even before the injury. Precocious kid breaking through on a foundation of blistering pace allied to step overs and trickery. As soon as that pace dropped off I felt he got found out. Just hoping Estevao doesn't follow a similar pattern.